'Fahrenheit' to show up early on video

Sony, Lions Gate jockey to seize on pre-election interest

WilliamSpain

LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Sony plans to announce as soon as Friday an early home-video release of the controversial film "Fahrenheit 9/11" before November's U.S. presidential election, a move that's likely to boost sales while advancing creator Michael Moore's political agenda.

People familiar with Sony's
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plans, who spoke only on condition that they not be identified, said videotapes and DVDs of the successful movie -- a scorching indictment of George W. Bush's presidency -- will be in stores before Americans go to the polls Nov. 2.

Most films are released to video in four to six months, and some take at least 10 months. The three-month timeline of an early October release is usually reserved for box-office flops that studios want to trot out quickly on the coattails of their theatrical-advertising campaigns.

Released to theaters June 23 by Lions Gate Entertainment
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the film is winding down a $100 million-plus box office run, a record for a documentary.

Sony, which has home-video rights to the film, has given no official release date, though Oct. 5 is the projected release date currently listed online at Amazon.com
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In hastening the movie to video roughly three months after its debut, Tokyo-based Sony is seizing on an unusual opportunity to take advantage of heightened interest on the eve of the presidential election.

"If I had the marketing responsibility, I would much rather bring it out before the election," said Bob Alexander of Alexander & Associates, a home-entertainment research and tracking firm.

Sony's early video release potentially would cut into any hopes Lions Gate has for maximizing its own box-office take.

Competition

Lions Gate, for its part, may yet seek to squeeze more life out of "Fahrenheit 9/11" by re-releasing it in the waning weeks before Election Day. That could put it in competition with Sony for viewers, a snag that industry experts said might be related to the delay in confirming the video-release date.

Officials with Vancouver-based Lions Gate declined to comment on what plans, if any, the company has for the film between now and then.

The film, originally owned by Walt Disney
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has been a political hot potato since even before its debut. Miramax studio bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein created the Fellowship Adventure Group to distribute "Fahrenheit 9/11" after parent company Disney and Chief Executive Michael Eisner abandoned the politically sensitive movie.

Whatever the exact date of the video debut, a pre-election release is sure to please Moore.

Moore couldn't be reached for comment. However, he has made no secret of his desire to sway election with his film, a muckraking attack on Bush's family ties to Saudi oil interests, the war in Iraq and the disenfranchisement of African-American voters.

Moore has gone so far as to encourage people to illegally download the movie from the Internet to get the widest possible distribution.

Although "Fahrenheit 9/11" has broken box-office records, that kind of success isn't guaranteed in the home-video market, experts say.

'No formula'

"It is really hard to predict," said Sean Bersell, a spokesman for the Video Software Dealers Association, a trade group representing mom-and-pop outfits and huge chains like Blockbuster alike. "There is no formula that anybody has ever been able to identify."

Typically, the best performers on video are films that gross $25 million to $80 million at the box office, Bersell said.

"Some that perform really well in theaters can be relative disappointments in the rental market," Bersell added, citing "Titanic" as an example. That film, the biggest box-office hit on record, had steady but subdued sales upon its home video release -- nearly nine months after its theatrical debut.

Still, Sony might miss out on a lucrative opportunity if it misses out o the pre-election release window. In a Gallup Poll conducted July 8-11, amid the film's initial media hype, 56 percent of 1,005 respondents said they saw or planned to see the film.

The bulk of that group, or 30 percent of all respondents, planned to view the film once it came out on home video. Forty-two percent of respondents didn't plan on seeing it.

Additionally, 60 percent of those identifying themselves as political independents planned to see "Fahrenheit 9/11," compared with 71 percent of Democrats and 38 percent of Republicans. The question was randomly asked of adults age 18 and older and the poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Complicating matters for Sony is the possible reluctance of some retailers to carry "Fahrenheit 9/11," Alexander said. "If Mr. Eisner didn't want to release it, is it likely a Wal-Mart won't want to carry it? It's a controversial movie. Not every store is going to want to carry it."

Wal-Mart
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one of the nation's biggest video sales outlets, didn't return phone calls. The company has in the past applied moral and political standards in evaluating which entertainment products to carry, though it does sell "Bowling for Columbine," a previous Moore documentary that had its share of ideological foes.

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